


Love You Forever

by eyeslikeonyx



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Police, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Smut, Gunshot Wounds, Hospitals, M/M, Morning Sex, Undercover Cops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 18:05:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17750855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eyeslikeonyx/pseuds/eyeslikeonyx
Summary: Auston bursts through the doors of the hospital’s emergency room, harried and running on nothing but pure adrenaline while flashing his badge to every staffer asking why he’s barreling past them. He walks up to Lieutenant Reilly, who is frantically talking to the nurse sitting at the front desk of the ER. Morgan’s eyes are crazed around the edges when he turns around to face Auston.Auston keeps his eyes trained on Morgan’s face instead of the dried blood on his superior’s street clothes.





	Love You Forever

**Author's Note:**

> i originally wrote this as a prompt for a kissing meme on my tumblr and it grew legs and ran away from me for a little bit.
> 
> for the prompt "a kiss where it hurts and on a scar"
> 
> kudos and comments are greatly appreciated. i want to hear what y'all have to say. your words mean a lot to me.

Auston bursts through the doors of the hospital’s emergency room, harried and running on nothing but pure adrenaline while flashing his badge to every staffer asking why he’s barreling past them. He walks up to Lieutenant Reilly, who is frantically talking to the nurse sitting at the front desk of the ER. Morgan’s eyes are crazed around the edges when he turns around to face Auston.

Auston keeps his eyes trained on Morgan’s face instead of the dried blood on his superior’s street clothes.

“Any news?” Auston asks.

“They won’t release any information to me because I’m not immediate family,” Morgan replies. “I’ve been trying to find something out for the past hour, but they won’t give me anything to work with. They all got hostile when I told them I was a cop.”

Auston sighs and looks at the nurse sitting at the desk.

“My name is Detective Auston Matthews, and I’m here to check on the status of a police officer that was shot in the line of duty earlier tonight. This is an official police matter, ma’am, and we need information on his status immediately.”

“As I told Lieutenant Reilly here,” the nurse snaps, “I am not at liberty to share that information until a relative gives me permission. I don’t care if you’re cops.”

Auston takes a breath and pulls out the platinum ring resting in his pocket. He slips it on his ring finger and then proceeds to pull out his phone. He unlocks his phone and shows her his screensaver and the ring on his finger.

“That’s my husband back there,” he bites out. “I was running an undercover operation when I got the call that he was shot. But now I’m here and I want to know what’s wrong with him and if he is going to live or not. Now I’m not going to ask again: what is the status of Detective Marner?”

The nurse pales as she starts typing something quickly into her computer.

“He’s still in surgery, Mr. Matthews,” she explains much more kindly than before. “When he came in, he had suffered two gunshot wounds: one to the leg and one to the chest. He had lost a lot of blood, and his body was starting to go into hypovolemic shock. There was an emergency blood transfusion done as he was sent to the OR. I don’t have any other information for you, but I will have a doctor come find you when the surgery is over. I promise.”

Auston swallows the heavy lump in his throat. Getting shot once is bad enough, but twice? In the same night? Auston is going to be sick.

Morgan drags Auston into the private waiting room provided for them and starts making phone calls to their Sargent, the Chief of the Toronto Police Department, and eventually to the other guys in their squad. Auston sits in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs, trying to even out his breathing and thinking of the right words to say to his and his husband’s families.

What if Mitch doesn’t make it? What if they went through all those years of sneaking around, trying to make their relationship and their jobs work, and then finally having the guts to get married and try and start a family was for nothing?

It’s not fair, Auston thinks to himself. Mitch doesn’t deserve to go like this.

He’s practically begging God to keep Mitch alive when he feels an arm sling across his shoulders. Morgan draws him close and lets Auston’s head rest on his shoulder.

“Mitchy’s gonna pull through, Aus,” he whispers. Auston realizes he’s been crying this whole time, but acting stoic and strong was never an option to begin with. He needs to see Mitch, needs to hold him in his arms and make sure he’s okay.

“I can’t lose him, Mo,” Auston whimpers. “I don’t know what I’ll do without him. We’ve only been married for five months. We’re supposed to be together forever. This isn’t fucking fair.”

“I know. He’s going to make it. He’s a fighter.”

Auston takes comfort in Morgan’s words and curls into himself more tightly, trying to make himself seem smaller than his gigantic frame will allow. While Morgan’s hugs are nice and a much needed comfort, Auston wishes he was in Mitch’s arms right now.

 

Hours pass before the surgeon working on Mitch finally comes in to speak to Auston.

Auston had fallen asleep at some point between the hysterical crying and the constant phone calls from other officers, news reporters, his mama, Mitch’s mom, and everyone else in between. When he wakes up, Willy is there along with Hyms, Kappy, Marty, JT, and Patty. Assistant Chief Babcock is there, too, which isn’t a surprise. For all that the Chief says he doesn’t pick favorites, it’s always been pretty obvious that Mitch is his favorite.

Hell, Mitch is everyone’s favorite. He’s one of the best cops in the entirety of the Toronto Police Department and one of the friendliest guys on the force. Losing him would be devastating to everyone who is a cop in Toronto. Everyone would feel the loss as if they lost a brother.

“Are you here for Mitchell Marner?” the surgeon asks.

“Yeah, I’m his husband,” Auston says quickly. “How is he?”

The doctor’s scrubs are bloody— _that’s Mitch’s blood,_ Auston’s brain provides—and his expression isn’t glum, but it isn’t relieved, either.

“We had to go in and get the bullets out of his chest and his thigh before they could embed themselves into any major organs or arteries,” the surgeon explains. “He did lose a fair amount of blood and started going into hypovolemic shock because of it, and he had a collapsed lung when we finally went in for surgery. He’s very lucky to be alive. If he hadn’t come in when he did, he wouldn’t have made it.”

Auston’s shoulders slump as fresh tears well up in his aching eyes. He has never been more thankful for surgeons than he is in this moment.

“Mitch isn’t out of the woods just yet,” the surgeon continues. “There is still the risk of infection, missing bullet fragments moving around, and a whole other host of problems that can happen quite literally overnight. The next forty-eight hours are crucial. He’s still heavily sedated and probably will be for the next eighteen hours because of the anesthesia and the medicine we’ve given him.”

Auston takes a deep breath and takes a moment to let the news filter through his tired brain.

“When will I be able to see him?” he manages to ask.

“The nurses are moving him into the ICU now. I’ll have someone come get you when he’s been settled in.”

 

Auston has to wait another forty-five minutes to see Mitch and by that time, Bonnie and Chris have shown up and been briefed on Mitch’s condition. Auston is thankful for Bonnie being close by. He doesn’t know what he and Mitch would do without her.

Auston, Bonnie, and Chris are the only ones allowed to see him since they’re family, but Auston stands back. “You guys go,” he insists. “I need to call the Chief and let him know how Mitch is doing.”

“Aus, let everyone else do that,” Chris says. “You’ve been through enough as it is. Give yourself a break. Mitch needs you.”

“Honey, he’s right,” Bonnie adds. “Let everyone else handle the media and the rest of the case. Mitch might not be awake right now, but he’s going to want you there when he does.”

Auston gulps as he stares at the door where Mitch is staying.

“Can you guys go first?” He hates how small his voice sounds when he says it. “I just—I need a few minutes.” Bonnie smiles sadly at him and gives him a hug.

“Of course,” she tells him. “We’ll be right inside.”

Auston was so impatient and antsy about seeing Mitch before, but now that he finally has the chance to see him for the first time since Mitch was shot, he’s almost afraid to. He could barely stand the time Mitch went undercover as a stripper and got a black eye and a couple of broken ribs after fighting the pimp behind the human trafficking ring that Mitch had been infiltrating.

He doesn’t know how he’s going to react seeing Mitch lying in a hospital bed as still as a body in a casket.

He finally walks into Mitch’s room when Bonnie and Chris decide to leave thirty minutes later. They can’t stay because they both have to keep their family from bombarding the hospital, but they promise to stop by that night to drop off some clothes and other stuff for Auston while he stays at the hospital with Mitch. They bid him goodbye with tight hugs that are almost as good as Mitch’s own. As Auston slowly opens the door to Mitch’s room, he’s expecting to see Mitch up and walking around, threatening to rip all the wires out of his body, telling Auston to get him the fuck out of there and drive them to a McDonald’s to get a Big Mac.

Instead, Mitch is lying still in his hospital bed, pale skin even whiter than usual, brunette hair greasy and wild, wrapped up in bandages with oxygen tubes in his nose and wires connecting him to all kinds of machines. Auston swallows and closes the door behind him before sitting in a chair next to Mitch.

“Everyone’s losing their minds out there because you went and got yourself shot,” Auston teases. He can hear Mitch’s laugh in his mind, and it’s enough to keep him from going too crazy.

“You promised me you would come home.” His bottom lip wobbles as he talks. “You promised me nothing would happen to you and that you would be safe. Why did you offer to take that job? You knew what those fuckers did to rats and cops. And you still went in, anyway.”

Fresh tears fall from Auston’s bloodshot eyes and his heart aches when Mitch doesn’t reply with some snarky remark about Auston doing the same damn thing.

 _“Running off into danger like you’re somehow more invincible than the rest of us,”_ he had said one time when Auston went on the hunt for a serial killer around this time the year before. _“I better not get your decapitated head in a box in front of my apartment door.”_

 _“Will you avenge me if you do?”_ Auston remembers asking jokingly. The fierce glare from Mitch is still ingrained in his subconscious.

_“You bet your ass I will. I’ll burn down the whole city until I catch the bastard.”_

“I wish you wouldn’t have taken this case,” Auston sobs as he takes Mitch’s cold, limp hand into his own. He kisses each knuckle on Mitch’s hand, lets his lips linger on the cold steel of his wedding band. “I wish you would just wake up already. You gotta wake up, Mitchy. You gotta come back to me.”

Auston gently rests his head on the meat of Mitch’s uninjured thigh, sucking the snot back into his sinuses and letting his vision blur with more salty tears.

“Please come back to me,” he begs quietly. “Please—I need you.”

 

Auston doesn’t even realize he’s fallen asleep until a nurse walks in to check on Mitch a couple of hours later. She feels bad for waking him but offers to have a cot brought up to Mitch’s room so Auston can sleep a little better. Auston hates the way his throat closes up as he nods and thanks her with a broken voice.

There’s two police officers on protection detail for Mitch and Auston, and they stay outside of Mitch’s room at all times. Auston is also pretty sure that there’s a couple of street cops hiding around the hospital in case someone puts a hit out on Mitch. Auston is a little surprised by the amount of protection the department is giving them, but he’s not going to complain. The safer Mitch is, the better.

He doesn’t leave the room except to get a snack from the vending machine down the hall and to go to the bathroom. Other than that, he stays vigilant by Mitch’s bedside and doesn’t stop trying to talk to him.

Talking to Mitch in this comatose state is strange, at first. Auston keeps waiting for Mitch to say something—he talks all the time and always has to get the last word in—but it gets easier the more he talks. He tells Mitch that they got the bastard that shot him and that he couldn’t wait for him to wake up already.

By that evening, Bonnie has dropped off some more food for Auston to eat that isn’t from the cafeteria or a vending machine and she stays with Auston to keep him company for a bit.

“He’s going to make it, honey,” Bonnie tells him softly. Auston isn’t a child, but he feels like one letting Bonnie Marner hug him close and rock him side to side as he cries into her shoulder. She doesn’t hug like his mama or Mitch, but he definitely knows where Mitch learned to comfort others so well. It’s enough to slow his racing heart and calm his mind for a little while.

 

Auston doesn’t mean to fall asleep sitting by Mitch’s bed again. He had drifted off while telling Mitch about the patient in the next room over who had a stroke three days before Mitch got there. He talks about how her grandkids had given her all these drawings to look at while she was recovering. She can’t speak very well at the moment, but Auston can tell by her crooked smile that she’s so happy they’re there to cheer her up.

He only wakes up when he feels someone gently shaking his forearm.

He sits up and rubs at his eyes, grumbling about how he doesn’t mean to get in the nurse’s way.

“Auston?”

Auston freezes and then slowly moves his hands away from his face. He dares to look up at where Mitch is resting and gasps wetly when he sees those beautiful baby blues staring back at him.

“Baby?” Mitch croaks. His throat has to be so dry. Auston dares a wobbly smile as he cards a hand through Mitch’s greasy hair and kisses his forehead.

“You came back,” Auston whimpers. Mitch’s hands are freezing when he touches Auston’s face, but Auston doesn’t care. He’s just so fucking thankful to have Mitch awake again.

“Did we get him? The leader?” Mitch asks. Auston quickly nods.

“Yeah. Yeah, Mitch, you got him. He and the rest of his gang won’t be hurting anyone else. You’re a fucking hero, baby.”

Mitch chuckles and this hisses because of the hole in his chest that is slowly trying to heal.

“Do you need me to get a nurse?” Auston is almost frantic because Mitch has finally woken up and now he might hurt himself more because of Auston being so careless with his husband’s health.

“No,” Mitch insists. “Just hurts a little. I can manage.”

Then he smiles that sly little smile when he wants something that he knows Auston won’t refuse to give to him.

“Kiss it and make it better?”

Auston tries to bite back a grin, but he doesn’t succeed.

“One: that was really fucking corny. Two: you have two bullet-sized holes—one in your leg and one in your chest. These aren’t just cuts and bruises from scuffles with criminals. You almost _died,_ Mitch. I don’t think a kiss will make it better.”

Mitch pouts, bottom lip jutting out far enough to make him look even more pitiful than he already does. Auston can’t help the way his whole body melts at the sight of his husband pouting at him like a child. It settles him to know that Mitch is still Mitch, despite the heart-stopping fear that Auston just almost lost Mitch for good twenty-four hours ago.

“But if a kiss is what you want,” Auston finally says with a sigh, “then I guess I can do that much.”

Mitch’s smile spreads across his whole face as Auston leans over and kisses right over the hospital gown and white bandage wrapped snugly around Mitch’s pecs and almost his entire ribcage. There’s no red bleeding through the bandages to tell Auston where exactly the bullet entered Mitch’s body, but Auston still knows exactly where it is. He will always remember where that small piece of metal flew through his husband and almost ended his life.

Mitch sucks in a breath as Auston’s lips linger over where he was shot. Auston looks at him alarmingly but settles down when he sees Mitch’s eyes shine in the flourescent light of the room. Auston has to stand to lean over Mitch’s body and get access to his injured leg. He slowly lowers the blanket to expose Mitch’s heavily bandaged thigh and doesn’t miss the way Mitch shivers and mumbles about the room being cold. Auston locks eyes with Mitch before lowering his head and reverently kissing the spot where the second bullet hit Mitch’s body.

Mitch starts to silently cry at Auston’s soft touches to his skin. Both men wish they were in a bigger bed so they could properly cuddle each other, but they take what they can get. Holding each other’s hands and resting their foreheads against each other is going to have to do for the time being.

Auston’s just thankful he can touch Mitch again.

 

_Seven Months Later_

 

Auston’s eyes flutter open at the feeling of a very familiar mouth soaking his boxers in spit and is most definitely not disappointed at the sight of Mitch slithered down their shared bed and giving his husband a very teasing but enthusiastic blowjob to wake him up.

“Jesus, Mitch,” Auston groans when Mitch sucks him a little harder to get him going. Auston’s mind is still a little groggy with the lack of coffee, but he is definitely enjoying himself because Christ, Mitch’s mouth is heaven.

Things really escalate the moment Mitch slides Auston’s underwear off and then starts sucking him off with gusto. Auston’s eyes roll to the back of his head and his toes curl as Mitch’s head bobs up and down and his hand jerks off the part of Auston he can’t fit into his mouth. Auston tangles his fingers into Mitch’s fluffy hair and moans around Auston’s dick to encourage him to pull.

As soon as Auston tugs on Mitch’s hair, Mitch whines and the vibrations ripple through all of Auston’s nerve endings.

“Not gonna last like this, babe,” Auston breathes. “Wanna come when I fuck you.”

Mitch pops off of Auston’s mouth as soon as he hears that and then scrambles up the bed to straddle his lap. Auston goes to grab the lube from the nightstand, but Mitch stops him before he can.

“Already got it out for you,” he says as he pulls the bottle of lube out from underneath his pillow. “And—” Mitch trails off as he takes Auston’s hand and guides it back around to his ass. Auston moans when he feels how wet and loose Mitch is.

“You just knew I was going to fuck you this morning, didn’t you?” Auston tries to make it sound teasing, but it just comes out as insanely turned on because—well, he’s obviously really fucking turned on right now. He moves backwards to sit up against the headboard and then drags Mitch back in by his gorgeous thighs, kneading the muscle there with his strong fingers. Mitch is smirking like he always does right before he goes to town on Auston’s dick and lifts himself up a little bit in Auston’s lap. He lubes up Auston’s dick some more because saliva can only help with so much, and Auston has to really focus so he doesn’t blow his load early.

“You would give anything to fuck me every day, all the time,” he moans out as he slowly lowers himself onto Auston’s hard dick. They groan in unison when Mitch sits all the way down in Auston’s lap and Mitch sighs while his head lolls back in ecstasy. Auston grips Mitch’s ass cheeks tightly and doesn’t let go. He especially doesn’t let go when Mitch starts moving up and down, fucking himself in a slow rhythm that Auston can definitely get behind.

Auston drinks in Mitch’s red lips, his messy, sweaty hair that’s starting to get long enough to curl around his ears, and those eyes. Mitch’s heavy-lidded gaze is a welcome weight on Auston’s soul, so beautiful and open and vulnerable. Auston’s eyes slowly move down the gorgeous span of Mitch’s neck, watches in a daze as Mitch’s Adam’s apple bobs up and down.

Auston licks his lips and leans in to suck a mark in the junction between Mitch’s neck and jaw and delights in the delicious whimper from his husband.

“You’re beautiful, baby,” Auston murmurs into Mitch’s neck. “Can’t believe I get to have you forever.”

Mitch hums happily and gasps with every downward motion onto Auston’s dick. Auston lets his hands roam over Mitch’s body—his thighs, his waist, his killer biceps. He even dares to stroke Mitch’s dick a couple of times, delighting in the way Mitch shivers at the attention.

He touches his chest last.

Every time Auston sees that scar, he’s reminded of how lucky he is. Mitch could’ve died all those months ago. The bullet could have killed him and Auston would have had to live on without the love of his life by his side.

Every therapy appointment, every check-up with the physician, every nightmare, anxiety attack, moment of doubt, every struggle they’ve had to face since that night—it’s all been worth it because they still have each other.

Auston lightly traces his index finger over Mitch’s scar: a long, thin line just a little to the left of his pectoral with a more circular, discolored part of the skin where the bullet had made impact. Mitch shivers at the touch, and his eyes lose some of their lustful edge.

“Auston—”

“I love you, Mitch.”

Mitch slows down until he’s stopped moving completely. Auston takes that moment to wrap a strong arm around Mitch and flip them around so that Mitch is on his back. Mitch squeaks and then laughs because Auston knows how much Mitch loves to be manhandled.

“You’re such a fucking sap,” he giggles out. “But I love you, too, I guess.”

“You guess?”

Mitch’s playful smirk shifts into an intimate grin.

“You know I love you, Aus. I could never love anyone else.”

Auston brackets Mitch’s head with his forearms and leans down to kiss Mitch’s lips and then his scar. Mitch slides his fingers through Auston’s hair and lets Auston do as he pleases to his chest, humming contentedly with every peck to his scar and his nipples. Auston remembers when Mitch didn’t want Auston to even look at him naked when he finally came home from the hospital. It took some time for them to get back to how intimate they used to be with each other, but Auston is secretly grateful for the time apart. It helped him appreciate Mitch’s resilience and his body and his soul. It helped them grow closer than they ever thought possible.

“Happy Anniversary,” Auston whispers into Mitch’s scar. He can feel Mitch’s quiet laugh hitching his chest up into Auston’s mouth, and Auston begins to nibble all over his husband’s pecs and nipples. Mitch has always been sensitive there, and no injury can ever change that.

Auston starts to minutely hitch his hips against Mitch’s ass, and Mitch’s moans definitely spur him on. Auston picks up a new rhythm in no time, and Mitch tugs Auston up by his hair and crashes their mouths together.

It doesn’t take long for either of them to come because of all the foreplay and build-up, but it still feels just as great as it does all the other times. Auston offers to carry Mitch to the shower, but Mitch’s hand fumbles around in the air before flopping back down on the mattress.

“Give me a minute,” Mitch huffs out. Auston laughs and starts up the shower. Mitch comes in a few minutes later, tattoos and scars from past cases on full display. Auston has his own fair share of tattoos and scars scattered around his body, but they don’t look nearly as beautiful on him as they do on Mitch.

Mitch steps into the shower and hugs Auston close as they stand under the hot spray of the water. Auston slowly sways them side to side to no other noise than his own humming of the song they danced to at their wedding.

“I love you, Auston,” Mitch says softly into Auston’s ear before kissing his cheek. Auston grins into Mitch’s shoulder and pecks at the wet skin there.

“I love you, too, Mitch. Forever.”

“Forever.”

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on [tumblr](http://eyeslikeonyx.tumblr.com) :)


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